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Hi all,Went to my first *** . meeting this week. had a ball. Dr.keith Delaplane was there.he discussed topics like chemical dependance,&the value of requeening.Dr. tom Rinderer,spoke on the russian SMR& their hygenic habits. i also found alot of mississippi bee keepers like russian honey bees.also there was a gent nameed Jerry Hayes ,hes the state apiary inspector in gainsville fl.he scared the crap out of me about this hive beetle thing. so far there no silver bullet for them.He said if they inter your hive, dispose of the hive. the bees will leave it anyway. he some of the bee keepers tried to clean them .some times they say , the bees will use it .all in all a good meeting DEANO

"Dispose of the hive if the beetle is present." Some advise from a state bee inspector. Scaring the crap out of people should not be the direction of any program. The beetle is something that we will all have to deal with sooner or later. I hope he went over preventative points to limit the beetles to a minimum, and also what to do when beetles are present in an apiary or hive, without the word "dispose" being being used. I think he's a little extreme or perhaps a drama student of years past.

I had one hive battle the beetle for months, with me adding frames, pulling the bad ones out, and eventually with some help from cardboard and checkmite, they over came it. And this was in the middle of numerous other hives next to it with no apparent infestation in the other hives.
The one thing I will note since you mentioned russians....I have noticed that with mites, some of the lines of bees that are known to be a little more aggressive deal with mites better on average. Thats not to say russians are nasty, but perhaps more defensive in nature. I'm hoping that its the same with the beetles. Nobody likes to deal with nasty bees, but I'm comparing the type bees that will drag a FGMO cord all the way through a hive, or a hive that does not want any foriegn matter, including a beekeeper in the hive. Some hives could care less, and for some beekeepers, its something for them to brag about, not wearing any gear and all. But have we breed a bee that is so docile that mites and beetles can now run freely?

I'll take a slightly more agrressive bee, who can survive, and with proper management practices, and proper smoke...Hopefully be better in the long run.

Ps. Some of my russians are pretty gentle. So I do not think its just a "russian" thing. Through breeding, hopefully a docile bee with extremely good grooming and defensive behaviors will help.

those russians are pretty good honey producers, and they winter very few bees but come up strong in the spring. I also give them a helping hand in the spring with some feed and pollen patties. They are bit more agreesive than the italians and carnolians but I think they are pretty good . Last month I bought some more hives off of an old man that has been raising his own bees for the last 70 years (italians) but very nasty, we will see next year....... lol

The Jerry Hayes you speak of.Is that the same Hayes that writes for the American Bee Journal? I'm thinking like BjornBee,Dispose of the hive is carring it to far,Also as he stated the beetle is a problem we will all be faced with in the very near future.Are we to dispose of all the hives?I think not.
I'm just glad he's not an inspector in my state.&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;Mark

Yes, Mark... the same Jerry Hayes. I was at the meeting also... He, Jerry, stated he writes the "classroom" section in ABJ. First I have to say that the previous post about tossing a hive was not quite what he said (Jerry Hayes).... he was speaking of commercial keepers... and he was speaking of AFTER a severe "hatch"? of SHB larve.. NOT to say toss a hive if you see a beetle. Its just that a commercial BKer doesn't have the time to clean up the mess when they are running several thousand colonies. He also assured us that "yes" the SHB is a problem... and is no easy fix in sight. BUT.. they are managable...keep a strong hive is #1.
New things I learned- SHB will LEAVE other hives in the same yard to go to a hive they SMELL the alarm scent... its weakness allows them to lay their eggs, therefore just opening a hive in a yard CAN cause that hive to be lost. ALso some good prospects with scent lures being worked on at the moment.
Promising results with testing using Metariziome Alophilese ???? I won't bother looking up the correct spelling... in treating for Vorroa.
MOST of the day was spent talking about the Russian bees... no treatments ETC ETC ETC. I for one came away with a STRONG feeling they were trying to sell Russian bees there. La bee lab with 4 select beekeepers with so called proven results etc etc... buy OUR REAL Russian queens for $300.00 and all your problems are fixed etc etc.....
I KNOW people who have had russians... don't now... and don't WANT em..
Sure.. they have some good qualities.. but they have bad also.... and the 1,000's of hives crashing in Ca were some of them russians also..... and IF they use NO treatments for their Russian bees, they should be more careful that other people cannot get copies of chemical receipts when they DO purchase their chemicals for the "NO chemical bees they run"...
Jerry Hayes was a good speaker though... told it the way it is.... told the bad AND the good. I got much from his talk... don't wanna write the whole sermon here though.
He DID say that they are having 1000's of hives being lost now out west with chemical resistance... talk is that pollination will bring 75.00/hive next spring..noone knows for sure what will happen this spring.
I also am beginning to see that there is MUCH more money in this business than I first realized.... and there are many people and companies out there that stand to gain much in selling chemicals/bees/whatever to anyone that will eagerly separate with their money. Catchy brand names for bees.... CERTIFICATIONS for chemicals or queens... NEW PROVEN management techniques for sure fire success... etc etc... all for a small contribution from the poor old beekeeper looking for an honest answer. SNAKE OIL has never been better than todays beekeeping industry.
Enough ranting for today... : )) I personally think things like here at Beesource.com... or BEE-L.... and various other websites with REAL beekeepers sharing experiences with different management techniques will be the BEST snake oil money can buy... ehhh well heck... its even FREE.
I DO salute all the beekeepers that are eagerly writing of their successes and failures on the web hoping that someone else can use the information.... it will be BEEKEEPERS that keep this business going .. thats for sure IMHO
SippyBee

Just a small comment about my last meeting, it was a small local one that drew folks from several counties. Someone with 250 hives run on screened bottom boards (nothing solid at all, debris drops to the ground) said he has been chemical free for years with those bottom boards (4"drop to ground required he said) and Russian queens that he replaces every year. Says he has not seen any SHB. He apparently knows enough about beekeeping that he works for some US Gov't agency that sends him oversees to help develop better beekeeping for poor countries.

I also got to meet another beekeeper from this forum ( Hi SteveinNC), share good food, and here more about a permanent bee exhibit at the NC state zoo.

If you go to enough meetings you will see some interesting things and people. Take home what you want and leave the rest.

It might just be a good way with sreened botttoms, the bees are able to shake the mites off but usually they fall to the bottom of the hives and crall right back up... has anyone heard about treating mites with vinegar?